I'm Dirty

I don't know if you recall, but almost 5 months ago (yes, 5!), we were given a "new" car...and I use the word "new" VERY loosely! If you somehow missed that post, click here to read all about it. When Daniel pulled the car out of the woods and to our house, he promised me it would be in our driveway a very short time. I think his exact words were, "just until I get it running." As he began to look over the car and realized it needed an entirely new motor, his next step was to move the car into our garage so he could remove the motor. So, the next promise was, "It will be in the garage a maximum of 2 weeks." Hmm...that was about 4 months ago. :) Our two vehicles that DO run and we use on a daily basis were kicked out of the garage and parked in the cold, rain, snow, sleet, etc. while the beloved Galaxie enjoyed it's warm and cozy home.

Before the new motor could be reinstalled, Daniel wanted to sandblast the body to remove rust and make sure it was smooth for when he was ready to paint. I asked him where he was planning to sandblast, and he said, "in the garage!" For some reason, that just didn't sound like the best idea to me, but being the submissive wife that I am (ha!), I went with it....after sharing my concerns with him. :)

About to get to work

Future sandblaster in the making

Hard at work

This is what our garage looked like after he was finished...

Just in case you needed a closer look.

There was sand everywhere! I mean everywhere! I'm thankful I bought him a heavy duty shop-vac for Christmas...it proved itself and did a great job of cleaning up the garage. And, now Riley has a sandbox to play in in the backyard. :)

Ok, fast forward to last weekend. The motor was finally done and Daniel and a friend went to pick it up. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the long tunnel!

Taking it off the truck

Being very careful as they moved it toward the front of the car

Lowering it down

And then it was time to put the fender's on...which Daniel and I did on Sunday and Monday night after Riley was in bed...no rest for the weary :)

And then the hood! It's beginning to look like a car again!

As I type this, Daniel and his buddy are doing some more small jobs. We're waiting for a couple more parts for the engine (I'd tell you what they are, but honestly, I can't remember, nor do I know what they do) and then he should be able to attempt to crank it! I'm pretty sure I will hear angels singing if/when that car starts. I might even bust out in the Halleluiah Chorus...you never know. :) Then all we need are some seats (which are being recovered by a sweet man in town) and a little paint job.

Throughout this whole process, Daniel's come inside very dirty many days. Riley usually wants him to pick him up immediately, and Daniel will say, "let me wash my hands first." The other day he came in and was filthy all over...not just his hands. Riley was ready to be held, but this time Daniel said, "I can't hold you right now. I'm dirty." We didn't think much of him saying, "I'm dirty," but evidently little man internalized that statement and saved it to use at a later time. The next day, Daniel walked in from the church office and when Riley heard him he said, "Daddy. I'm dirty!" We laughed so hard! Ever since then, he walks around the house randomly saying, "I'm dirty!" This morning he took it to a new level, though, and I was able to catch it on video.

I had some overly ripe bananas on the counter this morning, and when I brought him in the kitchen for breakfast he looked at them and said...



"Dirty bananas!" I laughed so hard! I sure do love the mind of 1 1/2 year olds! I'm thankful for these fun (and funny!) moments I can share with this precious gift from God. And, I'm thankful for technology that will somewhat capture them so we can look back for years to come!

Happy Birthday, GiGi!

This is Daniel's sweet grandmother, Betty Moore. We know her as Nin, and Riley knows her as GiGi.

Today is her birthday! I won't tell you how old she is, but let's just say she looks amazing for her age! Every time she comes to visit I am in awe of how easily she gets down on the floor and crawls around with Riley. How thankful I am that our son gets to spend quality time with his great-grandmother! Memories to last a lifetime!

Riley wanted to share with GiGi his own special message...

Happy Birthday, Nin/GiGi! We love you!

We've made it past 1!

If you'll remember back to a previous post, Riley was having trouble getting past 1 when counting. Well, he's conquered it and there's proof below!

*You may need to turn up your volume in order to hear all of what he says.
**Please disregard the southern "five" you hear at the end from the camerawoman. She is in denial over the Texan accent that may or may not be manifesting itself in her Floridian body.

Amazed

I don't know if any of you ever struggle with this, but sometimes when I get so excited or overwhelmed by something God's done, I have a hard time putting it all into words. I'm going to do my best to share what has transpired in the past 48 hours, but know that what is read on this post is only .001% of the excitement, joy and AWE I am feeling at this moment!

Monday afternoon I was doing what I normally do while Riley's napping...checking email, catching up on FB and blogs, etc. I noticed my friend Monica had updated her blog and I was excited to see new ways to pray for she and her family (they are missionaries in Swaziland - a small country inside South Africa). As I read down the list, I got to the part where she listed different volunteer teams that will be helping them the next few months. I looked over the list quickly and one group caught my eye..."some of the camp staff of Camp WorldLight are coming in late July/August." Camp WorldLight is the camp where I served in Florida for 8 summers. One of my closest friends is the director, so I figured she must be taking the team.

**Side note: For those of you who did not know, I served as a Journeyman in South Africa from January 2003 to November 2004. Monica and her husband, Steve, were in Swaziland at the same time. Monica and I also served on camp staff together in Florida before either of us went overseas. I consider her one of my mentors, so since I lived only 2 1/2 hours from her while in Africa, I spent quite a bit of time in Swaziland.

Back to Monday...after finding out about the team going to Swaziland, I sent a short text to Anne (the director) telling her how excited I was she was taking a team back to Swaziland (she went on a short-term trip there in the late 90's). I never dreamed I would receive the text back that she ended up sending. "Yeah! I am so excited about going back. July 29-August 10. You want to go?" If I wouldn't have already been sitting down, I probably would have fallen on the floor right then. You see, I have been praying for over 6 years that the Lord would make a way for me to go back to the land I grew to love so much. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I honestly left a part of my heart in South Africa when I returned to the U.S. in 2004. I told her that after consulting the Lord and my husband, I would let her know. When Daniel came home from work and I told him, his first word was, "GO!" He knows (boy does he know!) how badly I've wanted to return. We decided to think/pray about it and talk about it some more that night and then I'd give Anne my decision the next morning. By the time I went to bed Monday night, I knew I wanted to go. The only possible glitch, though, was she had to make sure with her travel agent that another ticket could be purchased. So even if I decided the Lord was leading me to go, that didn't necessarily seal the deal.

I called Anne Tuesday morning and told her my decision. She said once she heard something back from the travel agent she'd let me know. Tuesday came and went, and I heard nothing. "Be anxious for nothing..." - yeah, that was a hard verse to put into practice yesterday! Thankfully the waiting came to an end this morning when Riley and I went to the park, and as we were playing I got a text from Anne saying, "You're in!" The only way I knew to respond to that was, "God, You are amazing!" I mean, He literally placed this trip in my lap! So many truths can be gleaned from this experience, but one that is standing out so clearly to me is the importance of persisting in prayer. He knows our hearts, and He knows our desires. If we are seeking His will and His glory, He will give us the desires of our hearts! We must trust Him with those desires, though! We also must trust that His timing is absolutely perfect!

Well, since I have about 5 months to write more about this upcoming trip, I guess I'll close for now. :) I would ask prayer for a couple of things, though.

*Please pray that God provides the finances...it's not cheap to fly to Africa! :)
*Please pray that God will begin preparing Riley for my being gone over 2 weeks. He's at the fun age where separation anxiety is in full-swing, and I'm going to be praying that God helps him to know that while I'm gone he'll be just fine.
*Please pray for the hearts of those we come in contact with in Swaziland. May the Holy Spirit begin working on them now!

Thank you so much for reading this long post and praying with me! Like I said, mere words cannot even come close to expressing how grateful I am to the Lord. To HIM be all the glory for this exciting turn of events in my life!

Bye Bye Crib

I apologize for not posting anything the past week. As the blog header says, things are constantly changing in our household, and the changes this past week have left me tired and unexcited about writing. Things are looking up, though, so I wanted to share some of what's been going on.

Here is Riley sleeping in his crib for the first time at the age of 6 weeks. Since then he has loved his crib and we've never had problems getting him to sleep in it. Sure, there were nights when he was teething or sick and didn't sleep well, but he's never just refused to sleep in it. That is until this past Saturday night. At the ripe old age of 19 months, Riley decided it was time to say goodbye to the crib and hello to a big boy bed. Was mama ready for this?? Absolutely not! In fact, I didn't even know it was happening until I returned late Saturday night from a youth girls' conference I had gone to with some girls from our church. Daniel took Riley to Hope to visit his dad Friday night, and the whole time they were there he refused to sleep in the crib. When they returned to our house Saturday night, he refused to get in his own crib. So, now we've had a fun week of adjusting to a "new" normal. Now that Riley is 'free' to move about the room, he does not want to stay in his bed when it's nap time or bed time. The first couple of days I just sat in his room until he fell asleep, but that took at least 45 minutes and was exhausting! I knew there must be a better way.

I love babycenter.com! I searched this website Wednesday afternoon and found a solution I thought might work. Just about every mother that posted about this topic said to go through the normal bed time routine, put them in bed and then walk out and close the door. If they get out of bed, put them back in without making eye contact or saying a word. Do this as many times as is needed until they stay in the bed. They'll realize (hopefully!) before too long that you're not going to give in and they're not going to win. Daniel was the lucky one who got to try this for the first time Wednesday night because I was at choir. :) When I got home at 8:45, Riley had just fallen asleep after getting out of his bed 46 times. Yes, you read that right. 46 times! Can you say "strong-willed child"?! I'm so thankful for his personality because I know the Lord created him that way for a reason, but good grief! Thankfully, nap times and bed time since then (2 naps and 1 bed time) have been much better! I think he's starting to catch on to what we expect of him. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can put him in bed and not have to worry if he's going to get back out or not!

Needless to say, it's been quite a week (on top of everything else, I think he's teething his 2-year molars...might as well work on those too while we're at it!) and we're all pretty exhausted. Here's to hoping and praying (feel free to join me in prayer!) for a restful weekend!

Pray without ceasing

I love how the Lord uses children to speak to us and teach us how we are to live. When we found out we were pregnant with Riley, it was evident to both of us that this child was from the Lord and HE would have to parent through us! We were (and still are!) clueless about how to raise a child - especially a God-fearing child. So, from the get-go, prayer was a huge part of our parenting technique. We prayed all the time while Riley was in the womb, and then once he entered the world, we began including him in our prayer times. Since he was just a 6 pounder, I've (I say "I" because I'm usually the one to put him to bed, but Daniel does the same when he puts him down) prayed with him right before laying him down for the night. I'll never forget the first time a few months ago when he said "Amen" after I finished praying. It completely took me off guard, and it was the sweetest thing to hear from my baby! Now it's a common occurrence. In fact, he now asks to pray throughout the day.

This morning is a perfect example. As soon as he wakes up, I give him a sippy cup of milk and he usually sits in his crib while drinking it. This morning was no different. After he finished his milk, he was ready to get down and play a bit in his room before breakfast. He has a twin bed in his room, and he loves to get up on it and play with several teddy bears that sit on the headboard. As he was playing with the bears, he saw a cross that sits on a shelf (which he plays with a lot, too) and started saying, "cross. hold it." I gave it to him and began explaining about Jesus dying on the cross so we could know God and talk to Him. Riley then said, "Jesus. Pray." and held out his hand (we hold hands when we pray) to show me he was ready to pray. So I said a simple prayer thanking Jesus for dying on the cross and loving us. As soon as I said "amen," Riley said, "pray." So I prayed for Daddy to have a good day at work and for us to have a great day at home. Again, when I finished and said "amen," he said, "pray." So I prayed for all of the relatives I could think of - for God to keep them safe and bless them. You've probably picked up on the pattern by now...when I finished and said "amen," he said, "pray."

And this, folks, is what it means to pray without ceasing! I love that the Lord used my 18-month-old son to show me such a clear picture of His Word. I also love that at such a young age, Jesus is real to Riley and he knows what it means to pray. And we wonder why Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:3) May we all have faith like a child and never take for granted the privilege we have to pray to the Lord and Savior of the world!

Auctioneer Dan

I'll bet you didn't know my husband had hidden talents such as this...